How could you?
by cookiedough12
Summary: Thalia thinks becoming a hunter will be the choice she will never regret. Until she meets the boy she can t help but fall in love with She ll definetely not leave Artemis s side But how can someone hide such strong feelings from a person? Meet the real Thalia...
1. The right desicion

Chapter 1: The hardest decision

"Thalia," Artemis said. "Daughter of Zeus. Will you join the hunt?" Stunned silence filled the room. Percy stared at me in awe. Anabeth smiled. She squeezed my hand and let it go, as if she`d been expecting this all long. My brain stopped working for a second. Me? Artemis smiled at me sweetly and at that moment I knew which the right decision was. "I will" I said firmly, my voice echoed through the gigantic throne room. My father rose from his seat, his eyes full of concern. "My daughter, consider well…" Even I was surprised when I interrupted the lord of the sky, "Father," I said "I will not turn sixteen tomorrow. I will never turn sixteen. I won`t let this prophecy be mine. I stand with my sister Artemis. Kronos will never tempt me again." And without wasting a minute, I knelt before the goddess and began reciting "I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis. I turn my back on the company of men, accept eternal maidenhood, and join the hunt." Afterwards, I came over to Percy and gave him a big hug. I felt him blush and I smiled, when I pulled away, he asked "Um… aren`t you supposed to do that anymore? Hug boys, I mean?" I rolled my eyes "I`m honoring a friend," I corrected "I must join the Hunt, Percy. I haven`t known peace since … since Half Blood Hill. I finally feel like I have a home. But you`re a hero. You will be the one of the prophecy. I`m proud to be your friend." Then I hugged Anabeth, who looked like she was about to cry, then to Grover.

The next few hours were a blur; I remember an incredible party and everybody dancing. I had just made an unexpected turn in my life, and I think I made the right decision.


	2. meeting the hunters

_Chapter 2_: Meeting the hunters

I was about to meet the hunters and I was really nervous, what if they hated me? Will they make fun of me? I looked at myself in the mirror and I saw a tall girl, her dark curly hair was loose falling down till her ribs, she wore black jeans, black boots and a silver t-shirt, a skull was clipped to her black mane. She was incredibly pale and had intense blue eyes underlined with black. For me, it shouted beautiful and dangerous. Would they like it? I asked myself, I checked the time 3:30. Oh gosh! I had to meet them in the Plaza Hotel at 4:00! I ran to the hotel as fast as I could, when I got there, I went up the stairs to the sixth floor. There were 12 girls dressed in silver camo pants and warm parkas, they all has a silvery yellow aura around their bodies. When they all saw me, all of them started greeting me as if I had known them for years.

Then all of sudden, all the girls made space for a small breathtakingly beautiful girl, she had long auburn hair tied in a ponytail, her eyes were like the moon, glowing bright. "Lady Artemis." I said bowing like the other girls. "Hunters," Artemis said "She`ll be our new leader." Artemis looked at Thalia and said "Thalia, meet the hunters, She is Lucy, Phoebe, Mandy, Camille, Sarah, Elisa, Hylla, Katie and Tiara." She whispered something to one of the girls and she hurried away, in the same speed, she came back with a silver parka, camo pants and a silver circlet. "The hunters will explain to you everything you need to know. Go on now, I`ll see you later." And with that, she went away. All the girls took me, to a big silver room, where they explained me all about how the hunters are a band of girl teenagers hunting monsters. I have to admit, that is so cool. Then I had to bathe in a silver liquid and change into my new clothes, Lucy braided the silver circlet in my hair. When I looked in the mirror, I so a very pretty girl with a braided dark hair. The camo pants showed her long slim legs and the silver parka was very warm. My face and whole body was glowing silver. _It was me!_

I love it. Being a hunter is so cool.


	3. The essence of the moon

Chapter 3: The essence of the moon

After I changed my clothes, I went outside and saw all the girls sitting in the silver comfy beds talking; Artemis was on the couch, she seemed to be meditating, when her eyes fixed on mine, she smiled and said, "Thalia, let`s talk." She led me to the common room and sat on the couch, "Sit." I sat down and said "Okay," The goddess grabbed a silver sheath with silver arrows, and a silver bow. She handed it to me and said, "Here," I took it; the bow was cold and shiny. "Since the winter solstice, I`ve been sensing big monsters, they are rising." I tensed "Is it Kronos? Is he rising?" Artemis nodded "The strongest monster is near Quebec, The other Olympians have allowed me to go and hunt it." This is what I`m made for, hunt monsters I thought. "Let the Hunters come with you, we want to help." The goddess smiled sadly "I`m afraid I have to do this alone, but before I go, I need all the hunters to go on a quest." I nodded "Yes my lady" She smiled and took the map hanging from the wall and spread it on the table; Artemis pointed north "A few days after the winter solstice, somebody stole the essence of the moon," How? Why? I thought "I need the hunters to go to Detroit, find the essence and bring it back to me, but be careful, the essence has been hidden in the darkest places and guarded by terrible monsters." Places? I thought as in plural of place? "Excuse me, did you say places. Artemis nodded "Yes, the essence has been cut into 3 pieces hidden in different places." I was confused "But my lady, why is the essence so important to you?" Artemis tilted her head "Thalia, apart from being the hunt goddess, I am also the moon goddess, our lives are linked to each other, and with the essence of the moon now stolen, I`m growing weak, you only have 10 days. I bowed and said "I won`t fail you, my lady." The goddess smiled. "I must go now, please tell the other hunters, now go." I bowed once more and went into the room, all the girls stopped talking when I came in I said "Okay girls gather round. Artemis had to leave because she had to do something urgent, but she left of something to do." Tiara tilted her head, making her wild, curly, brown mane fall to one side. Her olive green eyes, were staring so intently at me, that it was hard to stare back. "What did she leave for us?" Her voice was rich and fluent. "Well," I took the map out of my sheath and spread it on the table. "A few days after the winter solstice, the essence of the moon was stolen." A few of them gasped, some of them seemed to be frozen in their places. I nodded "It was taken and ripped apart into 3 pieces; each piece is guarded by a monster." Camille shook her orange, curly red hair and said "Then we`ll never find it, America is real big!" I smiled "All the pieces are in Detroit, so we just have to travel there and **BOOM**! Destroy the monsters, unite the pieces and give it back to Artemis." I made a fist explosion with my right hand. Bianca sighed, straightened up and said in a real confident voice "Then what are we waiting for? Let`s go now!" Bianca was the only Aphrodite kid here. She was the prettiest girl of all the hunters; she has this long light brown hair that fall until her hips. Those **BIG** emerald eyes sparkled between green and grey in the sunlight. Tanned and skinny, Bianca was gorgeous of course, but she was also real tough. I pointed the sky, which was now reddish purple "It`s getting dark, but pack up, hunters, we start off tomorrow morning."


	4. Traveling to Detroit

Chapter 4: Traveling to Detroit

We woke up at 6:00 sharp in the morning, got dressed into our parkas and boots and went down to have breakfast. I felt like I hadn`t eaten in months, I ate like a pig, stuffing food into my mouth like crazy. The weirdest thing was that none of them looked at me as if I were a maniac. They just kept throwing ideas and strategies for our quest. Lucy, who was sitting next to me, looked at me and smiled "Don`t worry Thalia, I know what you`re thinking and it`s not true, you`re not a pig, it`s just that the liquid you bathed in, is extract from the moon itself. It`s like bathing in the river Styx, except, it doesn't hurt and instead of making you invulnerable, it makes you immortal, that extract, makes you feel hungry and tired." I sighed in relief "Thanks!" Lucy grinned at me and said "You don`t have to worry at all, this only takes 3 days and you`ll be normal again!" _3 more days?_ I thought _Great!_

When my hunger was satisfied, and everybody had finished eating, we went upstairs to the sixth floor, into our room to grab our stuff and leave. It must have been really weird for the people at the hotel, to see 13 girls, each one walking beside a half-human size white wolf, fortunately, thanks to the mist, it looked like normal dogs, I think. When we got out, each of us mounted our wolves. Mine had fur as white as snow and its eyes were the greenest green, I named her Jade, for the precious green stone. I leaned down and whispered into her ear "Okay Jade, take me as fast as you can, to Michigan, Detroit. And with that, Jade sped to our destiny.

I recommend you to travel with a Greek, artic wolf if you like:

-to feel your face peeling off.

-the wind screeching in your ears.

In other words, I loved it. The wind was cold as ice; I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sensation. Then I looked backwards and I saw all the hunters riding their wolves behind me, in the shape of a pyramid. The feeling was so overwhelming; I had to fight the urge to scream "Wohooooo!"

Time passed so fast, it seemed like minutes since we left the hotel plaza at New York. Jade slowed down, and so did the other wolves. I looked around, the ground was full of snow good thing we`re wearing parkas I thought. Jade stopped, I lowered myself and the other hunters did too. The place was on top of a mountain; the surface was steady enough to set up camp, so I signaled them that it was safe, they nodded at me and started unfolding the tents. 10 minutes later, there were 4 tents set in a circle, and in the middle, a blazing fire was glowing in the dark clouded evening. We sat there roasting marshmallows and mini hot dogs. Everybody was joking and laughing, I felt so comfortable with them. Late at night, after the bonfire, we went into our tents; I was sharing with Tiara, Bianca and Hylla. It was so fun, we laughed all night, Hylla, a Demeter kid, had dark and wavy brown hair; her eyes were like 2 big sapphires, blueish purple. She was really confident and had a sexy look in her eyes. She wasn`t like any other Demter kid, she was playful and flirty (well, she used to be) Tiara swayed her messy hair round and round, her hips making a sexy turn, and then, she`d fall down and we`d laugh so hard, we doubled over.

It was a long time since I hadn`t had so much fun.


	5. The gift from Artemis

Chapter 5: The gift from Artemis

The next morning, I woke up all the hunters and ate breakfast. "Okay hunters, today we search for clues that could lead us to the first piece of moon essence." All the girls nodded in silence, we may have been immature yesterday night, but today, we`re all serious. "We are going to split into 2 groups, one group will do search from now until 12:00, then the other group, who will be here at camp, will search until 6:00, we`ll meet at camp and we`ll talk about the clues we found." They nodded, but Bianca asked "But how will we contact each other if we`re in trouble?" I opened my silver backpack and took out a silver, glowing box, I opened it and inside, there were 13 silver chain bracelets. I heard some gasps of admiration and I smiled. Then I took one and showed it to the hunters "This is a gift from Artemis to all of us. If you tap the silver moon two times and say the name of the hunter you want to see, she will appear to you on top of the moon as long as the other person has the bracelet on." I passed the bracelets and they chained them to their wrists. I put on mine behind my silver luck charm bracelet, also known as Aegis. If I tap the lightning volt, the bracelet would turn into a shield. "Okay so I will go on the first team, who volunteers to go now?" Pheobe, Tiara, Camille, Bianca, Hylla and Elisa volunteered. "Okay," I said, "Now the rest of the hunters, do some exploration to find some wood to keep the fire on." Then I mounted Jade, and the other six hunters did too. We went riding down the mountain "Where do we go now?" asked Pheobe, she was our best tracker; her long black hair flew behind her, her brown eyes fixed on mine. "To the city of course." Replied Elisa, she had mahogany hair and clear blue eyes as pure as crystal. I nodded "Yes, you`re right Elisa, to the city we go."


	6. The room full of silver

Chapter 6: The room full of silver

When we got to the city, it was about 8:00 in the morning. It was still snowing. We got off and left the wolves in one place, then walked through the city. "Remember hunters, we just look, we do not hunt today." I reminded them. They nodded and followed me. "You know, to speak the truth," Tiara said "You`re much better leader than Zoe." Hylla bobbed her head up and down "Yeah! She was so serious, it was sooooo lame!" I didn`t say anything, but deep in me, I felt this tingling sensation of pride. "So, how does the essence look like?" Elisa said "It could be anything, but has to be silver." I replied.

We walked for two hours, but we were out of ideas. So we went to a café to warm up. "Where would a monster hide something silver, that can be manipulated into whatever shape, and make himself, the monster, look like a normal, innocent human?" There was a silence and then suddenly, Bianca snapped her fingers and almost yelled "I got it!" We all turned to look at her tanned face "Well, something silver would be in a fancy place for rich people." I didn`t get her discovery "Look, I`ll give you a hint, it`s a place where they sell gold, silver accessories." Suddenly, my mind cleared up, it was like a misty lens in which I couldn`t see and then BAM! Everything is clear. "A jewelry shop!" I yelled Bianca smiled and nodded. The seven of us ran to the jewelry shop near the café, we were running towards the door when…

Bam! A fist slam into me, and I fell into the snowy cold floor "Hey!" I protested "watch your step!" I was dazed from the fall and was getting up when I heard "I`m sorry girls, but little girls allowed in the jewelry shop." But as he said that, I saw the man eye Bianca,

I guess Bianca also saw that and she nodded at me like saying I got this. "Excuse me sir, but we are no little girls here in front of you." She widened her eyes like puppy dog eyes, but Bianca, as pretty as she was, she was no good at flirting and the man shook his head. Hylla walked in front of him and looked at him straight in the eye. "What`s your name handsome?" The man raised his eyebrows "Matt." He cleared his throat. Hylla smiled at him and said "well Matt, I`m Hylla, How about we go to the café just over there and have a little chat." But as she said that, she raised one eyebrow as if saying you know what I mean at him. Matt straightened up and said in a confident voice "C'mon, I`ve got an even hotter place." Then he grabbed Hylla and took her away. We saw him grabbing her butt, but Hylla didn`t seem to care, she was very flirty indeed. The rest of us watched her walk away, and then we entered the jewelry shop. The intoxicating smell of perfume, made me want to puke. A French, old blond dude came to us and smiled "Ah! What do we have here? Little girls!" I narrowed my eyes, he was very suspicious. "We want to buy an accessory for our teacher, it`s teacher day!" Camille said. "What kind of accessory would you girls like?" the man asked "My name is Don Pierre and I`m here to sell you whatever accessory you want!" Bianca answered in a clear voice "Any silver accessory." Don Pierre`s smile melted into a ugly sneer. "Silver, yes, come over here and I`ll show you silver." Don Pierre, walked us to a room full of silver objects, Phoebe rushed to the glass tables and checked the necklaces and bracelets and earrings. We looked at them and tried to find an odd one out, but each one of them was the same, no glowing pattern or anything. Don Pierre just stood there smiling creepily at us. Then after searching for 1 hour, Elisa shouted "Look!" We all gathered around Elisa, I sneaked a look at Don Pierre and his face was a mask of panic. Elisa had found a necklace on the floor, under the tables. The chain was had a silver aura, the glow felt powerful and it filled me up with energy. It had a moon and in both sides, a small bright star shined with the moon. The stars had a diamond pattern. _This must be_ I thought _the first piece of the moon…_


	7. Pierre

Chapter 7: Pierre

_This must be_ I thought _the first piece of the moon…_

Camille walked over to Pierre and said "We want to buy this one." Pierre looked nervous "Er… er, I`m afraid, this one isn`t for sale." He tried to grab the necklace from Camille`s hand, but she was faster, Camille stepped away. I walked over to them and looked at Pierre innocently "Why can`t we buy this necklace?" French dude twitched "It is very expensive! Of course let me show you other cute necklaces for your teacher! We have gold, copper, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds…" Suddenly, I exploded "We want this one, do you understand?! This one! You stupid French dude! Give us this one! No gold, or copper, or anything else!" Pierre looked surprised "My, my! You should calm down! Miss, I`m afraid you will have to leave this shop, all type of anger is prohibited in here." I felt his cold hand pushing my back so I could walk out of the shop. I left and the hunters followed me. I sighed "I'm so sorry girls, I just couldn`t stand him anymore." Elisa smiled "Hey it`s okay, we now know where the first piece is, and we didn`t hunt, just like you said, nobody`s blaming you here Thalia, if you wouldn`t have shouted at him, I would`ve. " Tiara nodded "Yeah, me too!" I smiled gratefully at the girls, just then; We saw Hylla running back to us "Hey! I thought you might have gone back without me!" I tilted my hair "No way! Where were you?" Hylla shuddered "Matt took me to the bar- disco, at first we were just flirting with each other, but then, a bunch of people came in, and started dancing, it was a big party, Matt took me to dance, but then he started kissing me, EEWW! I kindda punched him, but he was so persistent! He started touching me everywhere! Ugh, college guys, always so dirty!" I was stunned _he had done what to Hylla?!_ "We have to get going to camp, it`s almost midday." I said. So we walked out of the city and rode our wolves up to the top of the mountain.

When we got there, we entered the silver tent pavilion, I was amazed, the girls had made two wood tables and picnic chairs, the fire was so hot, I could feel the warmth of the heat spreading through my body. The girls were all sitting in the tables with hot chocolate and fresh baked bread talking. There were couches and silver rugs on the floor. When they saw us, Lucy waved us over to the table, we sat down and Mandy, Sarah and Katie brought us sandwiches, doughnuts and hot chocolate. "Thanks!" I told Mandy, she shook her brown hair with purple highlights "It`s no problem!" Her chocolate brown eyes sparkled "After all, I didn`t buy all this." Tiara asked "Then, who did?" Katie bounced, her strawberry blonde hair jumping with her, her pale complexion, matched with her dark, almost black eyes. "It was Lucy, she went down to the city and bought all of this" She pointed to the table next to us, it was filled with chocolate mugs and sandwiches and all sort of delicious foods. "Mmmm, Thanks Lucy, it`s great!" Lucy smiled shyly "it was nothing; we were starving even after we ate all the hot dogs, so I bought some food." But her grey eyes shone with pride, she twirled her gold hair, which was tied into two pigtails. Sarah looked shocked "Nothing?! You call that nothing? Lucy that was heroic!" I smiled, Sarah was very dramatic, her bangs were gold while the rest of her hair was dark brown, same color as her eyes, her skin was the color of cappuccino "Sarah calm down" I said. "Sooooo, had any luck finding the first piece?" Lucy asked, Bianca, who had been very quiet, said "well, we think we may have found the first piece in the jewelry shop net to the café "El Cappuccino" but they through us out, it`s a necklace, with a moon and two stars beside it, the whole necklace glows silver and the stars have diamond patterns." I nodded "Good job Bianca, yes it was like that." After I said that, I dug into my hamburger, it was so delicious, my mouths watered just from smelling it, the melting cheese, and the juicy meat… "For us, our search, did find something, so let`s hope you guys can complete it." Hylla said. "Be careful with Matt, he`s the guard, he can be real nasty!" Camille said, but Hylla shook her head "Matt doesn`t work on afternoons, just mornings." Lucy smiled, "then let's hope everything will be alright!"


	8. The dream

Chapter 8: The dream

After lunch, the second group went to the city to find more clues. "Remember; be back at 5:00!" I told them, I watched them go, and then, the rest of the hunters and me, cleaned up. I felt so tired, I could just sleep in the cold snow, I think Phoebe noticed that also "Thalia, go to sleep, we`ll keep watch on the camp." I felt grateful for having the hunters by my side, so I went into my tent and as soon as I`d crashed into my silver bed, I fell asleep.

Everything was dark and quiet; I to move my hand, but it was frozen, I tried to walk, but my feet were stuck. Suddenly I heard an ancient raspy voice cackle "Who`s there?" I ask "Show yourself!" I tapped my silver charm bracelet, thinking it would spring to life and turn into Aegis like usual. But nothing happened. I started freaking out, I`ve never felt that weak in my whole life, which is say, a lot. "You fool!" The raspy voice boomed "You think you can escape from me so easily? They never learn" I gasped _was it Kronos again?_ "Leave me alone! "I screech He cackles again "Oh I`ll leave you alone, for the moment… By the way, careful with the people you meet…

The he kept on cackling. _Wake up!_ I shouted to myself _Please!_

Suddenly, I jumped, my eyes opened. _Oh it was a dream_ I grabbed my notebook and a pen, I opened a new page and started writing:

Dear Anabeth….


	9. Dear Anabeth

Chapter 9: Dear Anabeth…

Suddenly, I jumped, my eyes opened. Oh it was a dream I grabbed my notebook and a pen, I opened a new page and started writing:

_Dear Anabeth,_

_Hi, I miss you so much. Being a hunter is cool but it would better if you were here. I think I`m getting better with my height fears – well, I`m trying because I really do need it right now. Artemis told me somebody stole the essence of the moon. It has three pieces. The three of them are in Detroit so we`ve gone there to search. So far, it is going okay – I guess…_

_We have one main suspect, his name is Pierre and he sells jewelry. He is really weird, he showed us the silver jewelry even though he didn`t want to, I saw it in his eyes. Elisa, one of the hunters found a silver necklace which was really incredible with moon and two stars, it has a silver aura. It looks like one of the essences of the moon. I`m sure of it. But Pierre wouldn`t let us buy it and kicked us out of the store. I feel really excited; this is so fun and creepy… Ugh who am I kidding? The truth is I`m really freaked out. I know I`m the leader everybody counts on me. I just can`t handle so much pressure. What do I do?_

_Your under pressured friend_

_Thalia_

_Lots of XOXOXXOOO_

I folded the letter and put it in a little silver bag I had been carrying. You never know what you`ll need! I went outside, the wind unexpectedly calm; it felt like a summer breeze. I frowned and walked towards Jade. I caressed her fur; she looked at me, her green eyes full of wonder. "Hey Jade, could you take this to camp Half- Blood? Leave it in Athena`s cabin." I held the silver bag to Jade. She took it in her mouth and sped away. _I hope she gets it _I thought.


	10. have you ever been in love?

Chapter 10: Have you ever been in Love?

I felt the pressure lifting of my shoulders. Once more Anabeth was going to help me. She was great at solving problems.

I went into the pavilion where Tiara and Hylla where talking. When they saw me, Tiara rushed over and grabbed my hand, leading me to the table. "Thals, you look so tense! Come sit with us!" I sat. "So…" Hylla leaned forward, her eyes turned into a shade of violet. "Have you ever been in love?" The question was so simple, yet so straight forward, it took me by surprise. "What?" Hylla repeated the question but I wasn`t really listening. _Luke…_ A rush of bittersweet memories came into my mind. The way we used to protect each other`s backs. The way he smiled at me, his eyes sparkling with care and gentleness. I thought back to a few weeks ago. His eyes still contained love, but hurt, also. He had a new scar. I admit I had been tempted to join him, be next to Luke forever… _Snap out of it! _I remember thinking. The thought of it was so overwhelming, so tempting… "Thalia… Thalia… Thalia!" Tiara was shaking my shoulder; I shuddered "Mmmmm?" I had been in love! I still was! But then another memory came to me, this time, it was much faster, Percy`s face, his green eyes, dark hair, gorgeous smile, our lips touchin….. Wait, that wasn`t supposed to be in my memories!

It happened on our quest to save Anabeth and Artemis. We were stuck in an old parking lot. I was sitting in the driver seat of a Mercedes when Percy climbed in, "Join you?" he asked, I shrugged "Sure" He sat "Nice coat" I said glumly, our quest was leading to nowhere and the weather wasn`t helping. "Yeah, but the Nemean lion wasn`t the monster we`re looking for." I shook my head "Not even close. We`ve got a long way to go." He sighed, I did too. "Hey you want to do something?" he asked, I turned my head to look at him "What?" Percy hesitated, "a game, perhaps?" It was dumb, but I laughed, it felt good, "yeah, right." He shook his head "I`m serious, it could improve your mood." I looked at him; he looked back, our gazes locked. His eyes were so deep, I felt like I would fall into the ocean when I had reached the end of his sea green eyes. Maybe it was the cold making me mad, but I leaned forward, and he did too. Our lips touched, and for one minute, we stayed like that. His lips were cold and soft, needy but gentle. I could feel my body waking up. It was me who broke apart. He tilted his head and stared at me I millions of questions in his eyes, I could tell. I turned my body away from him _what had just happened?! _I needed to catch my breath and think clearly "Do me a favor, get out of my car." I said without looking at him. Percy didn`t protest and got out. Just then I realized, I liked Percy more than just a friend, but I couldn`t let myself give up to him. Anabeth also liked Percy, and I couldn`t bring myself to ever hurt her. That`s when I promised to forget about that special kiss and continue with my life.

I blinked; Tiara and Hylla were staring at me worried. "Are you okay?" Hylla asked. "You don`t have to answer that question if you don't want to…" Tiara said. The truth was, I didn't want to; it was none of their business. But then they were my best friends, after Anabeth and Percy. I had to trust them. "Yes." I answered. Hylla nodded "Me too, his name was Marcus, he died." I suddenly felt sorry for her. I hated it when people felt sorry for me, but I couldn`t help feeling it for her. "Oh Hylla!" Tiara exclaimed, she scooted closer to her and hugged Hylla, she started sobbing. I jumped and grabbed a box of tissues and passed them to Hylla. I sat next to her and brushed her hair with my finger while she blew into the tissues. "I`m sorry, I shouldn`t get so sentimental, it was a long time ago." That`s when I realized that I didn't become a hunter only to evade Kronos, it was so I wouldn`t suffer over Luke or Percy.

A few hours after Hylla stopped crying, my silver moon bracelet started glowing and beeping. I tapped it and Lucy`s face appeared. "Any news?" I asked "Yes, when we got to the jewelry store, it was closed, so we waited until Pierre got out of the store so we could follow him." My heart started tap dancing with excitement "so? What happened?" Lucy answered "So we followed him to a bar where he started talking to some weird guy, then he handed him the silver necklace we were looking for and now the weird guy has it! Don`t worry, we took a picture of the guy, he works at the Salon, Spa named Beauty, anyway, we stated after the weird guy instead but Pierre caught us spying on the Salon guy and has Mandy!" My thoughts raced. "Don`t worry" She told me "We`re finding her, but maybe we`ll be at camp a bit later." I nodded "Okay, I`ll tell the other girls, and Lucy, good luck." Lucy smiled and her face disappeared.

I ran back to the pavilion, where, all the girls where. "Girls" I said, waiting until I got everybody`s attention. "Mandy`s been captured by Pierre." Bianca gasped, pandemonium began. Tiara and Bianca started hugging and talking loudly, Hylla tried to keep everybody calm by shouting which wasn`t much of a help. And the rest of the girls where just talking and running all around. "It`s okay! Lucy and the group are taking care of this" I shouted over all the mess. Everybody calmed down "Pheew!" Elisa sighed. "Everything`s okay, we have to trust that they`ll will be able to rescue Mandy…" I nodded "We have to have faith.."


	11. Rescue mission

Chapter 11: Rescue mission

Lucy`s Pov:

I have to admit, I was proud to be in charge of the second group, Katie, was a little clumsy with stuff, Sarah was way too dramatic to handle this mission, and Mandy, wasn`t here. I was the best one to do this job, and nobody argued. Being Athena`s daughter, I knew exactly how our plan would be and work. I unscrolled a piece of paper and said:

"Okay girls, just to remember, I`ll read our plan again:

We go to the costumes, and make up store and we dress-up so that Pierre doesn`t recognize us.

Then, we follow the gang of girls we met an hour ago to the jewelry store, they are helping us." I glared at Sarah when I said the last word; just so she could get my warning _do not attack them. _I kept reading:

"3. We check out the jewelry and one of the girls will buy the silver necklace

Pierre will accept because he wants it away from us.

While he is distracted, me and Katie will sneak into his "office" and get Mandy. This is while all the girls do a tantrum outside to keep French dude busy.

Finally, before Pierre can react to what`s happening, we run over him and get the hell out of there.

Comprende?" Katie and Sarah nodded. We went into the costume store and bought 3 wigs and contacts. I got a wild, bleached blond hair, with pink highlights and water blue fake contacts, Katie got straight black hair and amber contacts. Sarah had a beautiful mane of red hair, I was jealous, it looked so good on her, and she also got green eyes, my favorite color. Then, we got dressed, when Katie got me my outfit, I groaned "Katie! It`s horrible!" She grinned "Cute right?" I sighed and grabbed the clothes. The marine blue silk dress was about 9 cm shorter than what it should be. Black transparent tights with a diamond pattern were stuck to my skinny legs, and glittery gold low converse were too small. But worst of all, Katie curled my fake blond hair. I kindda liked how I looked, of course, I wouldn`t allow myself to ever admit that. I got out of the dressing room and saw Katie with the weirdest look ever, black hair and caramel eyes did suit her though. She looked elegant, but one look at her outfit, and I quickly changed my mind. She wore a red and white striped shirt, on top, a sleeveless creamy white vest with hoodie was suited perfectly. She also wore a coral mini short and low snowy UGG boots, she looke nice. But Sarah was gorgeous, she had a sleeved black and white striped t-shirt and a mini red skirt, a golden belt with a bow was wrapped around her waist. Her legs were protected by black and white checkered tights and golden ballerinas. Sarah`s jaw dropped. "Luce! So cute!" Sarah nodded "Bootyful!" I shook my head "I`m so ridiculous compared to you guys! C`mon we got a friend to save.


	12. The rescue mission (Part II)

Chapter 12:Rescue mission (part II)

Lucy`s PoV

I kept trying to lower my dress a bit, "Katie! It`s tooo short!" I groaned "And my feet hurt! Couldn`t you have just chosen a lower cuter dress and big shoes for me?" Katie rolled her eyes "Gods, Lucy, calm down, you look cute, and stop complaining! You`re Athena`s child, you`re supposed to be wise, not annoying!" I stuck my tongue at her, but she was right, I had to be wise and stop complaining, besides I was the leader, I couldn`t act weak now! "You`re right" I sighed. "Hey, when did you say those girls would come? Because it`s getting late." Sarah asked, I looked at my silver bracelet and said "About 10 minutes more, chill Sarah." I loved my bracelet, ever since Thalia gave it to us, I kept admiring the texture, the smoothness of the cold silver, a moon hang from it, and not only it was pretty, it was also useful, it could telegram the person you wanted to see (well to only the ones who also had the bracelet) and tell the time, and take photographs, and leave voicemail.

Just then, a gang of teenage girls about our age came over to us. Katie was right about something, we did fit in, all the girls had basically clothes and hair like ours. "Lucy!" OMG you haven`t changed at all! You look fab." Victoria hugged me and I felt a wave of nausea, she stinked like designer perfume. See, Victoria was my best friend before I joined the hunters, besides my dad (whom by the way, cares about me a lot) she was the only one who knew about my demigod secret. We were inseparable. Back then, of course, I was a dumb flirty girl, like her, except she wasn`t dumb. She had bleached blond hair, just like I used to have and sapphire blue eyes plus, she was tanned, so she looked ike a California girl. She wore a sleeveless emerald dress, just like mine. She had the darkest blue colored tights and silver converse. Also, she had jewelry everywhere, dangling from her ears, were golden cherry earings. A diamond bracelet wrapped around her wrist and she had a matching diamond necklace. A playful shade of violet nail polish adorned her nails. Victoria was just about my height. Last time I had seen her, she was half a head shorter than me. I gaped at her outfit. Victoria started "So, Lucy, meet my friends, they are Alicia, Heather, Christie, Isabel…" But I wasn`t listening, the girls were tall, about my height. They were all skinny and glamorous as if they were to compete for America`s next top model or something. When she finished introducing her friends, I introduced mine and told everybody the plan. They all nodded and we headed towards the jewelry store. Alicia, who was second in command in Victoria`s group of friends, suddenly stopped and so did everybody else, she had light brown hair which fell like cascades down her back. Her eyes were the colour of the Caribbean, green and blue mixed together to form a rich and soft colour. She was tan, pretty, and tall… and dumb. She claimed she had the **sixth sense **which was a total lie and everybody knew it. She raised her hand and said "Wait, Do I looked okay? Cause, we`re not going in unless I look perfect." I rolled my eyes secretly and Victoria giggled, I could see we still shared the same sense of humor. I smiled. Victoria was hard to forget, she always left a good impression, she always did. I looked at Alicia, she was perfect, she wore a strapless, knee-length white dress and cream coloured ballerinas. Her mascara was applied perfectly and so did the lip gloss. "Fine." I said, "You`re fine. Now let`s keep moving." Alicia glared at me but she kept walking. Victoria squeezed my hand. "It`s gonna be okay." She said. I nodded and opened the door to the shop.

It stinked worse than Alicia and her excesive perfume. The store glittered with jewels. "What a beautiful group of ladies, may I help you with something?" I looked up and saw a man, he was blond, and old, and had no fashion sense. "I stood straighter and said "Hi, um, we`re looking for a nice pair of earrings for a party. The man raised his eyebrow and asked "All of you are looking for earrings?" We all nodded except Victoria who said, I`m also looking for a matching bracelet. Me and Chloe here." She gestured at me and continued, "We`re best friends." I looked at Victoria and she winked at me." Suddenly, I felt someone starring at me, Zoe, our X leader who died a month ago had showed me how to feel someone`s stare. I turned around and saw Alicia glaring at me with a murderous look, it was shooting daggers, it was intimidating. But I ignored her. She was probably jealous of the fact that probably, I was still Victoria`s BFF and she wasn`t. "Yes, we are, do you have any fun matching earrings and bracelets for both of us?" The blond oldie smiled at us and said "Well of course, I`m Pierre, you can walk around the store to see which things you prefer. Do not touch the jewelry." He warned and then, he lead us to a room. Victoria gestured for me to walk with her, but before I could follow, Alicia grabbed my arm and pulled me to the corner. "Listen" she said "I`m gonna be brief about this, Stay away from Victoria. She **my **best friend, not yours." I smirked "Well.." I voice interrupted me, "Luce." Victoria whispered, I turned around and walked away. "What happened?" she asked me, I shook my head and said, nothing, just, let`s find his office. We walked around the store, looking interested until I found a door at the back of the store. I grabbed mt my moon from the bracelet and put it in the door knob **C****L****I****C****K!** The door opened and I got in, Victoria following me. Just then, Sarah and Katie appeared "You found Mandy?" I shook my head. The room was messy, there were papers everywhere. I hurried to his desk. I hate mess, with ADHD and dyslexia, my mind would explode in any second. Sarah followed me to his desk and helped to clean up the table. She opened the drawers. There were a bunch of keys just sitting there. I grabbed them and walked to Katie. "Do you think…" She nodded. Katie the power of sensing doors and stuff. She started touching the walls, until she knocked a wall, it sounded empty. I walked over and took out my hunting knife. Then I made a cut, the wallpaper slipped out immediately, there was a door, beautifully carved, the wood looked smooth and cool. I grabbed the doorknob and turned it. The door clicked open. I went in and gasped. Sitting in a cubed mini jail, was Mandy, she looked tired and lonely, her brunette hair was messy and her purple highlights had a sad and dull shade. "Mandy!" I exclaimed, she looked up and her eyes widened. "Lucy, Katie, Sarah!" she smiled at Victoria "Hi!" Victoria waved her hand. I rushed to the jail and tried the first key. Nope. Second key, nope… The 50th key, YES! It clicked open and Mandy rushed outside to hug me. Katie and Sarah joined us. "I`m so glad you came to get me!" Mandy said.

"Yes," I french voice said. "Me too."

I`m sorry for having updated so late. I`ll be faster next time :)


	13. The smokin hot manticore

Chapter 13: The smokin hot manticore

Last chapter:

The 50th key, YES! It clicked open and Mandy rushed outside to hug me. Katie and Sarah joined us. "I`m so glad you came to get me!" Mandy said.

"Yes," I french voice said. "Me too."

**Lucy`s PoV:**

Quickly, I turned around, just in time to see Pierre appear in front of us. "May I ask, what are you young ladies doing here?" he stepped closer to us, "You know why we came here." I snapped, he just laughed and responded. "Well, just one girl was enough for me, but the three? This will really surprise the lord!" I smirked, "Really? I thought he would`ve casted you to Tartarus, after you failed to bring Thalia back to him." Pierre flinched, I could see I had hitten him in the right spot. A few months ago, Artemis, went to find a monster, but had been kidnapped by Zoe`s dad, Atlas, and Thalia, this demigod Percy Jackson, Bianca di angelo, who died and a satyr went on a quest to find her, and another maiden. A manticore, had been there to try to convince Thalia on the bad side, but Lord Dionysus wrapped him in grapes and strangled him, Pierre was the manticore. I was sure of that. "I see, you`ve discovered my real identity." He started changing, bigger, taller, uglier. Until the shape of a manticore appeared. I grabbed my bow and an arrow, Sarah took out her hunting knife and we both charged, while Mandy and Katie grabbed Victoria out of the way. She looked really shocked, her blue eyes wide. The manticore,threw a spine, but I dodged it and kept shooting. "For Artemis!" Sarah yelled and sank her knife in the manticore`s back, the monster shrieked in pain, its voice banging on the walls. Katie, joined us trying to tie the Pierre`s paws together. I shot him in the tongue, back, arm, everywhere I could see flesh exposed. "Curse the hunters!" Pierre yelled. Anger soared through me like a tidal wave and I struck one of his spines into Pierre`s own face. Bad move. The manticore roared and swung us all to the floor with one swipe of its tail. I tried to stand up, but my energy was gone. My arms were sore, and everything was blurry. "You fools!" Pierre yelled, "You think I will be vaporized again? NO!" he looked at us, his eyes blazing like a roaring flame. "Tartarus sucks!" I nodded "You`re right." I said. The manticore stared at me in surprise. "really?" I nodded some more like a good girl. "Of course, Tartarus is for monsters, and you…" I gulped and continued "Are a real beauty." I nudged Katie to keep the act going. "Um- yeah!" she said brightly, "I mean, that`s not faux fur right?" she gestured at his fur. And the manticore smiled, obviously pleased, "Not at all." He stood up straighter. Sarah who had been very silent added. "and you have great strength!" The manticore looked at his biceps grinning like crazy. "I am pretty damn hot." I made a face secretly and faced him again "Smokin hot" Victoria giggled. "Why don`t you show us your strength?" she asked. "We`ll be in here a while, so…" The manticore frowned "like what?" I looked around, and then BOOM! _Got it! _I said. "Do you know how to bend iron bars?" Pierre looked at his arms once more. "Sure I can, I`m the Manticore!"Mandy, Katie and Sarah burst into giggles. The manticore looked offended. "You don`t think I can do it?" I raised my eyebrows "If you can, prove it." I gestured at the mini jail. The manticore looked at it and headed towards the jail. He got in and closed the door. Pierre breathed in and grabbed two iron bars, they didn`t budge. He frowned and did it again. Nothing. While he was doing it, I got out my knife and started cutting the ropes. Stupid manticore had forgotten to disarm us and tied our feet not hands together. Soon we were all free, I got up and looked down, my blue dress had been torn a bit, and my golden converse had a spine stuck to it. I took it out. Too bad, I was starting to like my outfit. I glanced once more at the manticore, who was still trying to break the cell. And gestured for the other girls to follow me. We crept towards the door and closed it silently behind us.

When we were outside I breathed loudly and giggled, Victoria did too, and soon we were all lying on the floor clutching our stomachs laughing must have been all those nerves the fact that we could have been killed in there, escaping from my stomach. I looked around the office, something glittered in the corner of my eye, I turned to look at it. A silver chain, lying of the corner of the office. A moon, two stars, glowing aura. This was it, I had it!


	14. The boy with one eye

Chapter 14: The boy with one eye

Last chapter (**Lucy`s PoV**): A silver chain, lying of the corner of the office. A moon, two stars, glowing aura. This was it, I had it!

I looked at my silver bracelet again "Clock" I said. The bracelet suddenly sprouted two arrows. Six thirty. I sighed, "Thals!" Hylla said. I turned around and ran to the pavilion. All the girls were around the couch, a bracelet was lying on the table, a holographic Lucy was talking. "We got Mandy…. And the necklace!" Everybody in the pavilion cheered. "We`re coming up." I smiled and sat on the sofa. It was a breezy evening and everything was calm, I was about to fall asleep when I heard fits of giggles outside the tent. I turned around and saw, Mandy, Katie, Sarah and Lucy! I got up and trotted towards them. The others followed me. Mandy looked really relieved as she explained her adventure to us. "It freaked me out so much!" Lucy nodded "Oh! I almost forgot, look!" She shoved in her torn blue dress ' pocket and took out the silver necklace. It`s aura was so powerful, it affected me, I could feel its energy filling me up. "Where should we keep it?" Mandy asked. I looked around. "There." I pointed towards the small round table, it was made of mahogany, and it was carved beautifully, with carvings of the night sky. On top of it, was a small treasure box. It was silver with silver flowers and plants. Lucy nodded and went over to put the necklace in.

We spent the next two hours sitting on the couches eating sandwiches and hot chocolate. Planning and throwing ideas for the next day. "So far, so good." I said. "We have 8 days more to bring all the 3 pieces together." Everybody nodded, "Let`s go to sleep." Mandy said, her eyes closing. We all got out and went to our separate tents, I with Tiara, Bianca and Hylla. Just then, I realized that Bianca had been very silent. "Are you ok?" I asked. "Yeah! It`s just, the manticore is still alive, still here, he may have escaped and has already told the other monsters!" I nodded "It`s ok. We`ll figure it out." We went into our tents and the mountain got silent.

That night, I tossed and turned, I just couldn`t sleep. The night, seemed to hold its breath, absorbing all the tension in, making an air balloon of stress. Finally, I went outside, put on my boots and started walking down the mount. It wasn`t very steep, but very tall, I gulped, breathed in and kept walking, careful not to stumble into any big rock. Looking up at the sky, I saw Zoe, running across the night, with her bow and arrow ready, a lump formed in my throat. I missed Zoe, her annoying old english. Everything. Suddenly, I tripped and almost fell. Balancing on my feet, I looked up and a cave built in front of my eyes. Weird, it wasn`t there a few minutes ago. I frowned and creeped inside a little crack. _Keep crawling. _I thought to myself. **BANG! **The rocks were falling down, I crawled faster. The crack was closing, no escape. My mind was racing. I`d be trapped in here forever! That`s when I fell, no warning. My knees crashed on the floor and I groaned. The cave was rocky, _figured._ "Ugh, am I stuck here forever?" My voice echoed loudly everywhere. Just then, someone appeared from the shadows, a boy, he was tall, thin and dark. His hair was dark brown, he was dressed and black jeans and a leather black jacket. He had an eye patch covering his left eye. "It seems like it." I stood up immediately unsheathing my celestial bronze knife and walked slowly over to him. "Who are you?" I asked, my knife under his chin. I figured he would panic and surrender immediately, instead, he smiled breezily and said "I`m Ethan, Ethan Nakamura..."


End file.
